Fall 2002 - Lone Star Chapter, Sierra Club

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12 Lone Star Sierran Fall 2002 Your Environment Continued from previous page Legislature in 2001 with passage of SB 305, the bill continuing TPWD in existence after the sunset review process for the agency. The plan includes an inventory of all public and nonprofit lands that provide public access and an analysis of existing and future land and water conservation needs. The plan also includes recommendations on how TPWD will address the states land and water and recreation needs over the next ten years. [Editor’s Note: See related article in this issue of the Sierran for an analysis of the plan.] Insights from a State Representative Rounding out the morning State Representative Edmund Kuempel gave an enthusiastic speech about the importance of citizens communicating their interest in parks and land conservation to their state legislators. Rep. Kuempel said that citizens must become involved in the process by which state government makes decisions if they want more parkland and protected wildlife habitat. Such involvement is especially important in light of an anticipated shortfall in the state budget next year. Purchase of Development Rights Julie Shackelford, Field Director for the American Farmland Trust, opened the afternoon with a presentation on how to reduce the loss of open space by preserving working landscapes. Shackelford noted that Texas leads the nation in land conversion from rural to urban. Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) is a tool that can be used to protect open space. A small farmer can sell his development rights (the appraised difference between farming value of the land and the developed value of the land) to the state, a local government, or a land trust. Funding options for a state PDR program include bonds, appropriations, lottery, cigarette tax and matching donations. Twenty-one states have these PDR programs in place, most often where local communities have taken the initiative, with Pennsylvania and Maryland leading as the oldest programs. Managing Urban Growth Comal County Commissioner Jay Millikin talked to conference attendees about the need to manage urban growth as a strategy for protecting open space. Commissioner Millikin discussed the differences between authorities that cities and counties have for managing such growth. According to Commissioner Millikin, counties in Texas need more ordinance making authority so that they may appropriately manage urban development. Special Places The conference concluded with presentations on two of the “special places” in Texas that the Sierra Club and other groups are trying to preserve for the future: the Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and the Katy Prairie. Stuart Marcus, Refuge Manager for the Trinity River NWR, discussed conserving bottomland hardwood forest along the lower Trinity River. The Trinity River NWR was approved for 77,300 acres. Thus far 4,4000 acres have been purchased. Once completed the refuge will protect high quality bottomland hardwood forest. The area contains broad and narrow leaf deciduous bottomland hardwood forest, which is wetland type that has experienced dramatic and damaging declines in the past decade. By 1980, 63% of all bottomland riparian forests in the entire Two of the leading conservation experts in Texas, Dr. David Schmidly of Texas Tech University and Dr. Pete Gunther of the University of North Texas, discuss land preservation issues during a break at the conference. state of Texas had been destroyed. Mary Anne Piacentini, Executive Director of the Katy Prairie Conservancy, gave an overview of the Katy Prairie. According to Piacentini, the Katy Prairie provides winter habitat for one of the densest concentrations of migratory waterfowl in North America and habitat for a large variety of other birds as well as for 60 species of mammals (such as deer and coyotes), and 55 species of reptiles and amphibians. The Katy Prairie is continually threatened by urban development expanding westward from Houston, which destroys and degrades the ecological viability of the prairie’s wildlife habitat. Urban expansion and the resulting loss of open space significantly decreases floodwater protection and water quality. Increased incidence of flooding on the west side of Houston is the result of conversion of open space to commercial and residential development. Continued on page 14
Texas Parks & Wildlife Releases Land & Water Conservation Plan By Brian Sybert, Natural Resources Director, Lone Star Chapter Note: In order to be included in this issue of the Lone Star Sierran this article had to be written before the Land & Water Conservation Plan was adopted by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission on August 29. As a result the final recommendations of the plan were not known when this article was written. Lone Star Sierran Fall 2002 13 Your Environment In June the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) released the draft statewide Land & Water Conservation Plan. The release of the draft initiated a formal public comment period on the statewide conservation plan. Thanks to the hundreds of citizens who commented and attended public hearings it is likely that the final plan adopted by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, the governing board for TPWD, will be stronger that the draft. Overall the draft plan included several important recommendations for how TPWD would address Texas’ rapidly growing conservation and recreation needs. However, the draft plan was seriously deficient in several areas. State Parkland In regard to state parkland the draft plan recommended that TPWD acquire four to six 5,000-acre or more state parks or combination state parks and wildlife management areas near major urban centers over the next ten years. While this recommendation is a good starting point it is not adequate for meeting our state’s growing need for parkland and habitat conservation. In comments submitted to TPWD the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club recommended that TPWD adopt the goal of providing 55 acres of parkland per 1000 people. At an absolute minimum, the Chapter suggested that TPWD adopt the goal of acquiring 15 new state parks near the major urban centers of the state. These goals are based upon population growth and would allow TPWD to take action during the next 10 years to meet the state’s growing conservation and recreation needs while also avoiding placing the state in a position of facing unrealistically daunting challenges at the end of the 10-year period. Local Parkland In regard to local parkland the draft plan recommended that TPWD continue to support local parkland needs through competitive grants to local governments. While this is an important goal it alone is not sufficient for meeting the growing need for more local parks. The Lone Star Chapter’s comments recommended TPWD should adopt the goal of working with local governments to provide 25 acres of local parkland per 1000 people through federal and state matchingfunds. This goal is also based on population growth and will allow TPWD and local governments to better meet local parkland needs. Wildlife Habitat To address conservation of wildlife habitat the draft plan recommended that TPWD increase private lands under wildlife management plans to 14 million acres over the next ten years. While wildlife management plans are an important tool for protecting habitat on private lands they do not permanently protect lands from development and fragmentation. The Lone Star Chapter’s comments recommended that to effec- Continued next page Photo Courtesy of Texas Department of Transportation
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Fall 2002 - Lone Star Chapter, Sierra Club

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